Hi all, am brand new to all of this. Just got dx with Lymph node neck cancer, Level I and II. Anyone out there with this kind of cancer? I go to oncologist on Tuesday for decisions on my care. Any thoughts from anyone? Help!

Dear LGLG7. Hope you have the time to read all you can on this site. Are you aware of the search button for particular questions that you would like to research? I would recommend that you start your notebook of questions [do not try to remember them in your head-write them down] and be sure to have another pair of ears listening with you on Tuesday. Once the oncologist gives you his recommended treatment, post it here with your questions. While you will not receive medical advice, you will get thought provoking feedback on how to make some good decisions. Most important- keep a positive attitude and try to stay in control of what is going on. You wil get good help here. Best wishes, Amy

Welcome! You've found the right place. As Amy said, no medical opinions to be found here, but a lot of very knowledgeable people who have been through it.

She made a couple of great suggestions....search the site for information, write down all the questions you have for the Doctors, and take someone along with you as an extra set of ears.

You are probably pretty overwhelmed right now, and extra ears often hear things that you don't, especially in the early days post diagnosis.

The journey you're starting won't be a easy one, and there will be bumps in the road to recovery, but you can do it, and there are lots and lots of folks here that have.

Kep us posted on what the doctors have to say, and much luck!
Wayne
stage IV SCC of left mandible. 50% of mandible removed, rebuilt with fibula, titanium and tissue grafts, June 06. 30 IMRT August and Sept. 06

Dear LGLG7,
Ditto to what Amy and Wayne said and Welcome. You will find this website invaluable as you proceed through your treatment. My father just finished treatment in May, 06. He is located in Vincennes Indiana. Where in Indiana are you located? As Amy said, after your meeting Tuesday, let us know his recommendation etc and we can at least let you know our personal experiences some of which are from the caregivers prospective and some of which are from the patients prospective. Keep a notebook and write as much down as you can as you are about to be blasted with all kinds of information.
Take care,
Kim

Let us know what you are told Tuesday and you will be flooded with helpful suggestions. I didn't find this site until after my Tx had ended but it still was the best thing that happened to me. Just knowing that you have many people that have "been there, done that" is comforting and believe me you will like to be comforted during your Tx.

Lymph node as an independent cancer is not common, and I would be asking my oncologist / head and neck surgeon where the primary might be. You don't mention what kinds of diganostic work ups you have had such as CT or MRI, PET scan etc. which might reveal a pathology that isn't evident right now. If you haven't been through all this, you may very well find that the neck nodes are actually a metastasis from a primary located somewhere else. There are several people here that have had unknown primaries with only malignancies found in the nodes after scans were performed (Those nodes being positive for squamous cell carcinoma, the most common head and neck cancer.) Speculation from doctors related to these cases is that for some reason the body's immune system finally copes with the primary eliminating it, but the met is still active. So there is essentialy no primary to find. These patients still go through the regular routine of treatments even though the primary cannot be located. Anecdotal evidence from a couple of major cancer centers shows that these individuals with unknown primaries have a slight survival advantage.

If you actually have been told that you have lymphatic cancer, (what I kind of infer from your original post) that is very different from head and neck cancers in many respects from symptoms to risk factors. Chills, swelling of the lymph nodes - which are often, but not always painless, fever, night sweats, unexplained weight loss, lack of energy, itching are primary symptoms.

The causes of Lymphomas including non-Hodgkin

Dear LGLG7, I wish you the best on your visit tommorrow. Brian has given you excellent advice. As a survivor of both a blood cancer and a head and neck cancer they are vastly different in their treatment. As hard as it seems to you now try and remember that regardless of any future statistics you may read about that everyone that posts here has faced the same scary future of uncertainty. We are all here to help each other. And our thoughts are with you tommorrow on a very anxious day for you.
Best Wishes,
Mark D.